EMOTIONS CAN LEAD TO CYBER VICTIMHOOD

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Emotions Can Lead to Cyber Victimhood
mikeechols.com/emotions-can-lead-to-cyber-victimho
od Michael Echols
The Dark Overlord Ransom Scheme The terrorist
attacks of 9/11 instilled fear, hatred, and
uncertainty in the hearts of many Americans. So,
when the hacking group, The Dark Overlord (TDO),
disclosed that it breached a law firm that
handles cases related to September 11th, both the
people and media went into a frenzy. The group
threatened to publicly release gigabytes of
sensitive, litigation- related documents if the
ransom it requested was not paid. The documents
in question include, but are not limited to
non-disclosure agreements, e-mails, retainer
agreements, settlements, and testimonies. TDO
promised that the leaks will have devastating
consequences for the country. Most people are not
worried about that as much as they are the
hackers seemingly open access to
everything. TDO Who They Are This is not the
first time the Dark Overlord Group has been in
the news. Prior to this scheme, the group was
notorious for holding an entire school for
ransom. This occurred while also sending
children death threats, going after healthcare
organizations, and extorting money from Netflix.
Netflix paid the requested ransom but still had
their show spoiled. This is a hazard to paying
digital extortionist. You just cant trust
them. Digital Extortion Is Alive and Well The
practice of obtaining money through force or
threat is called extortion. In cybersecurity
terms, it is also commonly known as ransomware.
Digital extortion is
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lucrative and cybercriminals continue to use it
as a funding mechanism. Victims range from
individuals to large corporations. In all cases,
the victim is determined to get their data
back. The Dark Overlord group has already
received three payments to its bitcoin wallet
from firms it has victimized. The victims paid
to fear that TDO would release sensitive security
information. As with most ransomware victims,
the businesses felt they had no choice but to
pay the ransomware that was demanded. TDO even
tweeted, Consider our motivations, were not
inclined to leak the juiciest items until were
paid in full. In response to their posts,
Twitter has suspended an account associated with
TDO, _at_tdo_h4ck3rs, from posting messages on the
social media platform. TDO was also cited for
selling access to stolen legal documents thought
to endanger national security. Ransom Payments
Made Easy Ransom payments are often made with
Bitcoin. Bitcoin has been around for several
years. It is a form of cryptocurrency that is
decentralized, so it cannot be controlled by any
banking institution or country. The use of
bitcoin for transactions is often frowned upon
because of the relationship to illegal payments.
Of course, many legal transactions are made with
bitcoin but groups like TDO bring about
villainization of the currency. The data
referenced was supposedly derived from several
law firms and real estate developers associated
with 9/11 conspiracies. Among them are
Silverstein Properties, Hiscox Syndicates, and
Husch Blackwell. TDO targeted these specific
firms in hopes of rehashing traumatic
experiences and inciting a national debate
dividing even more Americans. A thorough
investigation and confirmation of all 3
businesses identified that no data was breached,
leaked, or stolen. Hiscox stated that if by any
chance there was data obtained by TDO, it was
due to an old breach. Hiscox is downplaying
claims made by the hacking group. Hopefully,
they are not hiding their breach a practice we
see across many U.S. businesses. We Dont
Negotiate With Terrorists TDO promises that it
will continue to peel back the layers,
unveiling Americas deepest and darkest secrets
surround the September 11th tragedy. The only way
to prevent this is to, pay the fck up, says
the groups spokes-people. U.S. authorities appear
no closer to shutting down TDO. As in the case
of Netflix, money does not guarantee cyber
safety. Dont trust criminals. Fool me once,
shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. TDO is
not the first ransomware group to ask for a
ransom and to not return the data to the
rightful owner. The CyberEdge Group revealed that
only 19 of ransomware victims who pay the
ransom actually get their files back. With that
low percentage, it proves that criminals cant
be trusted and take an emotional action like
paying them is not smart. TDO may have 9/11
documents but it wont really matter if we stop
working to tear down each other. Their potential
success in this hacking venture hinges on us
forgetting we are all Americans.
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